Hilliard schools official resigns amid financial probe

Thursday

Mar 15, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 16, 2012 at 1:24 AM

A Hilliard athletic director transferred more than $10,000 from a tournament bank account into personal accounts as "mad money," according to an investigation that apparently prompted his resignation. An accountant who handled the investigation also questioned Neill "Chip" Ebert, the athletic director at Hilliard Bradley High School, about a $40,560 gap between the deposits reported to the Ohio High School Athletic Association and what ended up in the tournament accounts over a 2 1/2-year period. Ebert, 47, on Monday

A Hilliard athletic director transferred more than $10,000 from a tournament bank account into personal accounts as “mad money,” according to an investigation that apparently prompted his resignation.

An accountant who handled the investigation also questioned Neill “Chip” Ebert, the athletic director at Hilliard Bradley High School, about a $40,560 gap between the deposits reported to the Ohio High School Athletic Association and what ended up in the tournament accounts over a 2-1/2-year period.

Ebert, 47, on Monday submitted his resignation, effective March 22, and the district released a statement about the case today. But officials would not discuss it, citing ongoing investigations by the Hilliard police, Franklin County prosecutor’s office and state auditor’s office.

Documents obtained by The Dispatch through a public-records request reveal some of what led to his departure.

Ken Richards, an accountant who the district hired to investigate the athletic-tournament finances, found transfers totaling $10,600 to three personal accounts controlled by Ebert or his 22-year-old son, Jeremy Ebert. Richards also questioned another $1,600 in withdrawals.

He also asked Ebert to explain a series of deposits to the tournament account.

Chip Ebert responded in a voicemail he left with Richards on Monday: “I was trying to put money back in ... so that the money I took out would be replenished, refurbished, repaid, whatever the right word is.”

Ebert said he had replaced more money that he had taken — an email detailed 16 personal deposits totaling $16,375 — and explained why he had transferred money from the tournament account.

“Some of it was my own mad money that the wife doesn’t know about, and stuff like that,” Ebert said in the voicemail. “I was trying to pay back those wire transfers as quickly as I could. That’s the reason that I was making those deposits.”

Ebert has not been charged with a crime, and the documents that Hilliard schools provided to The Dispatch do not draw a conclusion about whether any money went missing. Spokeswoman Amanda Morris said the district has no other records.

Richards was hired to investigate how Ebert handled the tournament account for the period from July 1, 2009, through the end of last year. Hilliard schools said the Ohio High School Athletic Association “directs athletic directors to create these checking accounts to manage funds generated from hosting tournaments” and that the money was separate from general accounts used by the athletics department.

“Athletic department accounts at all three high schools and all other district accounts are audited on a regular basis and are in good standing order,” a district statement said.

The high-school athletic association also regularly monitors accounting reports from tournament accounts, said Jeff Jordan, its chief financial officer. The accounts are used to collect money from ticket-sale revenue and to pay expenses such as referees.

“It’s designed to be one place where we can account for all those things together,” he said. “We do find discrepancies from time to time.” Jordan said he was unfamiliar with the Hilliard case.In a March 8 e-mail, Richards asked Ebert about the $40,560 discrepancy between the amount deposited in the tournament bank account and other records from more than 30 events that Hilliard hosted over the 2 1/2 years. Receipts and reports to the state athletic association totaled about $221,700, more than the amount that Ebert actually deposited.

“I'm not an accountant obviously — you saw my books,” Ebert responded in a voicemail. “If there's something I can sit down with you and go over, I think that's probably the easiest for me."

Ebert later said he would provide more documentation. The records provided by the district do not show whether he did so, or whether those closed the gap.

Morris said she hadn’t reviewed the documents and said that district officials were concerned that talking about the case could impede the ongoing investigations by the auditor’s office and law-enforcement officials.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said he wasn’t aware of any investigation by his department, but he couldn’t rule it out.

“Typically on something like this, if there is a contact with our office, I am advised, and I haven't been,” O'Brien said in an email.

The investigation in Hilliard is the second this month involving bank accounts tied to high school athletic tournaments. A state audit of Olentangy’s finances found more than $11,000 in unapproved purchases from similar accounts between 2008 and 2011.

That money was repaid, State Auditor Dave Yost said, but the spending shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

“This is an opportunity for every district to take a look at whether and when outside bank accounts are a good idea,” Yost said at the time.